Representation: Where are Our Agents? (Lincolnshire)

Devoted and Disgruntled Archivist

Representation: Where are Our Agents? (Lincolnshire)

Caroline Lamb, 26 September 2012

Only three people attended the entirety of this vibrant and intense discussion regarding agents and their access to the talent pool of Lincolnshire. However, positive action was decided on and each member of the group seemed to glean a great deal from the session.

The main point made was that there seemed to be a distinct lack of “Actors” agencies in the Lincolnshire area (or at least, a lack of access to them), and that agents and casting directors seem loathe to travel out from London where most are based.

The group discussed the option for an agent to set up in the area, and the suggestion was made that a graduate of one of the various schools of drama might take this role.

However, the importance of contacts could not be ignored here. Setting up an agency in Lincolnshire would doubtless result in a one-horse race and said agency being flooded in applications from local talent, but the question still remained: where would this agency come from?

The other option was to find a way to compel agents from further afield to visit Lincolnshire and attend shows by drama students and prospective actors. It was decided that an email would be sent to the head of performing arts and the artistic director at the Lincoln School of Performing Arts, wiith which two of the group members had strong connections, regarding inviting agents to performances at the Lincoln Performing Arts centre. Included in this email would also be the suggestion of an audition pack to be sent around agencies before The Lincoln Company headed off for their annual run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, containing the resumes of all company members of the lookout for agents and inviting all agents intending to travel to the Fringe to attend shows by The Lincoln Company. Sadly, the group members had no strong links with the rest of the acting community in Lincolnshire, and so no further suggestions could be made regarding invitations to agents.

Besides this very positive course of action, a long discussion was held regarding the morality of casting based on “type” - mainly physical. The group's frustration at shallow casting was almost tangible - this being relevant due to some agents' habits of taking only one actor of each particular “type” to avoid their clients competing against one another.

The group parted filled not only with the hope that their course of action might help at least some Lincoln-based actors to be seen by agents, but also with the refreshingly idealistic drive to fight against shallow typecasting!

Hey! I just left the hugest comment, but because I hadn't logged in it deleted it, argh! lol, will try and write it again, apologies if it's not as detailed as the last!

Firstly, sorry I didn't manage to attend this one, although I did want to on the day. I think that obviously it would be inevitable that the first agent in Lincoln would be inundated with applications for representation, but that would only be a good thing because it would encourage a competitive marketplace, and more agents would then come out of that initial one.

Secondly, I think that unfortunately casting based on your physical traits is part and parcel with the industry we work in. If you think of it another way, if you as an audience member were watching a play, film or TV drama for example, and you thought one of the characters didn't “look right” it would spoil your enjoyment of the programme. Ultimately, audiences are the decision makers, and the ones who decide on the current fashions and trends in our industry. I grant that theatre is by nature more diverse, but on camera you can't do much to change the way you look. Imagine casting Matt Lucas as Mr Darcy, would you say it's “shallow” not to or common sense?

I think that there's no point in seeing casting by physical attributes as “shallow”, it's just a fact of life. I think by our nature as humans we try to struggle against anything that attempts to put us in a box, as we are all diverse in our own ways, and could probably play multiple different types of roles. But instead of railing against it and seeing it as a barrier, I use it to my advantage. I know what type of roles I suit at this moment in my life (remember, if you're not happy with your casting at the moment, it will change as you grow older), and I channel all my energies into applying for roles that fit this casting. Through doing this, I genuinely get more auditions (I've been in almost constant paid employment for nearly a year now because of this).

Also, finally, I wouldn't say that agents only hire “one person per type”. I've often attended auditions among two or three others from my agency, because of course there will always be cross-overs when casting. But it wouldn't make any sense for an agent to have 50 blonde, white girls who are all 5' 4'' and nothing else. It's not even a case of your clients competing against each other; how can an agent firstly establish themselves and gain a reputation in a diverse industry by only applying for the same roles over and over again, and secondly how can they help you individually to progress if they're putting 50 others who are identical to you up for the same jobs every time. At the end of the day, it's not in your interest as their client for them to do this.

Sorry, that's quite and essay! Please feel free to comment back :)

Caroline Lamb, 29 September 2012

My opinion is exactly the same as yours - the “report” was just that - not an expression of my individual view but a recording of the discussion that took place. I agree that it is common sense to cast according to how the playwright/author has described the character (although sometimes even this is adapted to “sex up” the character for audience appeal, especially in film). However, when we got round to this point, the only other two contributors were not actors and therefore didn't know that this was the way things were in the industry. Naturally, they were quite up in arms against it. I took on the cynical voice and explained that this particular industry had always been very much lead by fashions, and that it had always been that way. It was the others who decided that they wanted to campaign against casting certain “types”, not me. I know it can't be done. I think it's a shame that people with quirkier looks regularly get sidelined or forced to play the same roles, but it's always been that way and unfortunately probably always will.

As for agencies, naturally, it depends on the agency. The ones who represent a smaller number of actors will always try go for one per “type”, as they won't want their clients competing for the same roles. Larger agencies can afford to splash out, but they still prefer that actors who might be considered the same “type” do have differentiating skills.

The chief purpose of our discussion was actually to find a way of creating interest for agencies in order to prompt them to visit the Lincolnshire area, or to highlight the need for a Lincolnshire-based agency. I tried to record the session truthfully, but perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned the whole “typecasting” thing, as it seems to be proving a distraction from the point, just as it did for us!

Pauline Loven, 25 September 2013

I am a Lincolnshire filmmaker (costumier and producer) and my quest for local actors is a constant challenge! We really need an agency, or at least a web site where actors can register and agencies/talent scouts can find them. I spend a great deal of time scouring the web for Lincolnshire-based actors/theatre groups/acting schools and contacting them, but I need a large body of talented actors to find just the right person for any given role. I run WAG Screen community film-making group and we are about to make a film about the First World War based on unpublished letters and memoirs. The film is about real people and we need to cast a family with children in their early 20's and the same group ten years earlier for flash backs … and four out of five of the family are red-haired, so you can appreciate my casting problems!

www.wagscreen.co.uk

Pauline Loven, 25 September 2013

I am a Lincolnshire filmmaker (costumier and producer) and my quest for local actors is a constant challenge! We really need an agency, or at least a web site where actors can register and agencies/talent scouts can find them. I spend a great deal of time scouring the web for Lincolnshire-based actors/theatre groups/acting schools and contacting them, but I need a large body of talented actors to find just the right person for any given role. I run WAG Screen community film-making group and we are about to make a film about the First World War based on unpublished letters and memoirs. The film is about real people and we need to cast a family with children in their early 20's and the same group ten years earlier for flash backs … and four out of five of the family are red-haired, so you can appreciate my casting problems!

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